The Improved Tech Behind Web Analytics Tools

In the modern digital world, the face of your business is your website. As such, establishing a strong web presence with a site that is not only appealing, but also helpful, intuitive to navigate, and easy to find will play a large role in establishing the credibility of your brand.; To this end, making sure that your business site has an effective analytics program in place is vitally important. Analytics help keep track of who is coming onto your page, where they are coming from, and what they do when they get onto your site. This allows you to adapt your site to better serve its visitors, resulting in better brand awareness, and greater customer satisfaction.; In essence, web analytics allows you to get a clear picture of how effective your overall web presence is.

Web analytics entails the collection and review of web data. This is used to help you understand how people are using your website.

Reliable web analytics tools provide a number of benefits, including:

• Regional data information. Knowing where your site visitors call home will help you identify more-specific demographic data, allowing you to better focus your goods and/or services to meet their needs.
• Keyword and traffic data. Most visitors will find your site through a search engine. Knowing what keywords and phrases are leading those visitors to your site will allow you to optimise your webpages to better rank for the keyword terms that you’d prefer.
• Real-time campaign reviews. Marketing campaigns often require a lot of time, effort, and cost to implement. Being able to evaluate and adapt (or even discontinue) marketing campaigns in real time can help to maximise profits, while also cutting losses.

However, finding the analytics tool that will give you a distinct competitive advantage may take a bit more effort. Given the importance of the online market—as well as the importance of having an online presence—there is no shortage of web analytics options to choose from. But not every web analytic tool offers the same capabilities. Here is a look at some important features to consider when choosing the right tool:

Cloud-Based Application

Cloud-based tools require no specific onsite hardware, operating instead via remote internet connectivity. This not only increases data security, but also promotes collaboration, by making the same data available to every authorised user—no matter which department they may inhabit, or what platform or operating system they prefer. And given that business best employees are 15.5 times more likely than their peer to say that they are always collaborating with other diverse roles in their company to gather, organise, and make use of insights gleaned from analytics tools, this is a feature that may play a large part in future business success.

Intuitive Design

Despite the widely-recognised benefits of web analytics tools, many organisations see problems in employee adoption rates. Simply put, some tools are too difficult to learn, and end up intimidating potential users. Tools that are designed for intuitive use, and that feature built-in tutorial assistance, can help ease the transition period.

Automation

There are a lot of tasks that go into properly analysing web data, and when these tasks all need to be performed by the user, then overall productivity plummets. Web analytics tools that offer assistance via built-in automation capabilities help take some of that responsibility, resulting in better use of user time.

Social media tracking

A large part of web analytics is data generated in social media. Some tools allow users to see how people react to social posts, by identifying how people are encountering the social media feed in questions, and also by keeping track of keyword data.

Knowledgeable Assistance

Although many of these tools are designed for easy operation and advanced automation, there is still something to be said for living, breathing support. Tools that allow users to connect with experts—whether that mean trained support agents, or other users who have gained the benefit of experience—provide an easier learning curve, resulting in faster and more-effective implementation.

Security Review

Not all analytics are focused on potential customers and site visitors; some tools allow users to review site security and locate defective pages.

When choosing a web analytics tool, it’s important to find something that offers an all-in-one solution to your organisation’s specific needs. Remember these points:

• The price of the tool should be considered. Generally speaking, a more-effective tool will likely cost more, but not always. At the same time, take ROI into account, as paying a little bit more for a superior tool can often mean higher eventual return.
• The usability of the program should also be considered. If the tool can be accessed and customised on any mobile or desktop device, then you’ll be able to roll it out quicker, and you won’t have to worry as much about employee adoption rates.
• The program’s overall effectiveness is likely the most-important issue you will face. Be willing to try tools that seem as though they will meet your needs, but don’t commit too fully to anything before you see what it can do. Many web analytics tools offer test-periods, during which businesses can get a feel for what it being offered.

Choosing the right web analytics tool will allow you to maximise the impact that your site has on your overall business-success, so shop around, do your research, and be sure of yourself before you commit to any one solution. After all, the right web analytics tool can help your online presence start working for you, rather than the other way around.